Trinity Circle
by Lazy Rogue
Summary: A sci-fi theme, one that I made myself, and was a project for my english class.This has nothing to do with religion or anything. Please R&R and let me know what you think. Rated teen for some violence, but it might change.
1. Chapter 1

Just to let you know, this has nothing to do with religion.

Trinity sat against the hard surface of the boulder behind him, breathing in the canyon's fresh outside air and, accidently, also the dust swirling around from when he knocked it off of the dumb boulder. He let out a shaking cough, trying to hold it in, although he was unsuccessful. Smothering it the best he could with his hand covering his mouth, Trinity heard the sounds echo off the canyon walls and deeper into the trench. It was a while before he had gotten all the dust out from his throat, and probably twice as long for the echoes to quiet down and dissipate. He sighed, exasperated, bending forward to prevent his body from touching the surface again.

Trinity got a good view from his position of what was beneath him, which wasn't much. Grooves in the rocks suggested that a massive river had once flowed down at the bottom, and small platforms barely big enough to sit on were scattered about, some leading into crannies and holes in the wall and sometimes the floor, and some were like Trinity's place, empty and desolate except for an inward curve on the wall. And why was he in this place full of…nothing? Naturally on a mission, the only mean to get him in vacant places like this. A place where you could shout out a person's name, them being on the other side of the empty vastness, and they would hear you as if you were a few feet away from them.

Raising his head to look at the sky, Trinity removed the his uniform helmet, wavy bronze colored hair spilling out and his emerald eyes blinking, adapting to the bright light of the suns after being behind the shaded visor of the helmet. The sun, a bright sphere suspended above him, shone a golden color over the planet's surface, illuminating the sky. Planet Dextrius is the world humans inhabited along with Planet Valios after Earth was destroyed by the Cathigans, a violent and sly alien race that seemed to appear out of nowhere in the year 2048. The survivors now lived in a system with 12 planets they called the Twin Star System after three years on a large transport, constantly in fear that the Cats (human nickname given to the aliens) would find them and exterminate their race for good. Twin Star System was named for the two suns that were much too close together to be called separate, located in the Aries Galaxy. Four planets revolved around the small sun, called Young Sister, glowing a pale orange while six others revolved around Big Brother, the golden sun. In between there were the two planets the humans had landed on, Dextrius and Valios. They shared both of the suns' light, and since they couldn't circle both at the same time, they slowly moved in a circular motion of their own, the years around 184 days long, about half of the Earth years. Given that, they count two years as one year. Humans now have lived on these two planets for fifteen years (30 years in Dextrius time).

Pulled in by the Dextrius's gravity, two large asteroids orbited the planet, about one quarter of Dextrius's size. Depending on their position and the planet's moon, visible even during the day, it was possible to estimate the time if you were without some device to do so instead. A full day was approximately twenty-seven hours long, a luckily close amount to that of an Earth day. The human body would have difficulty adjusting if the day was any more than thirty-five, or at least with doses of caffeine. All it is was an extra two hours of night and an extra hour in the morning.

Trinity watched as a single small white cloud drifted over Young Sister and flew on past, traveling to the places not yet explored by humans on this planet. He stared still at the blue sky while it darkened, closing in on the end of the midday and on into many hours of night. He tried to imagine all the distant lands and seas ignored by the human race as they were busy maintaining the one continent they were already on. There was only a rough sketch of the rest of the world, not detailed enough to satisfy Trinity's thirst of curiosity. He could imagine tons mountains, forests, and deep, open valleys filled with creatures and all other sorts of things that have not been discovered. He imagined the dangers that come with unknown mysteries, the beauties and horrors of the unexpected.

He shifted his eyes down to look at the symbols on the front of his helmet: three silver circles connected together and a black and gold five-pointed star; the symbols of the Human Army and the corporation who provided this helmet along with other equipment for the army, New Age Origin, or N.A.O. His oath to service bound him from moving freely, restricting where he went and what he did. He was ordered to do the things he did, and he had to obey them or it would mean trouble for him and his companions. This mission, given to his company, Grey Zero, by the captain-commander was strictly high priority. Failure was not an option, not that it was anyway. It was even more of a red zone than any other time, signs dotting the perimeter around it, practically screaming "enter and die" in your face. Trinity smiled. At least that was how the captain-commander described it. If by any chance they did fail, Grey Zero would not be forgiven easily.

A crackle in Trinity's ear snapped him back into the present reality. His right hand tapped the speaker inside the lightly, and the noise soon ceased. Trinity raised his eyebrows questionably and removed the speaker, fingering it in front of him for a few seconds, then positioned it where it was before, wondering if it was starting to…

"TRINITY!" A harsh voice suddenly screamed. Surprised, Trinity smacked his head on the rocky surface of the canyon, his head throbbing horribly from the sudden burst of noise emitting out of the silence that he had heard for so long. Trinity winced in pain as his hands involuntarily reached to test for any blood or such, thankfully only finding a large bruise evolving on the back of his skull. He could sense a formidable headache emerging for the corners of his mind as his eardrums hammered on the anvil harder than he felt was necessary. It was a constant BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, much like the massive drums in the local marching band at the city, the ones that kept the beat of the song going, and he had the honor of sitting right in the middle.

"Y…Yes?" Trinity replied after the deafening racket had died finally died down. He could probably guess in one try who owned the voice of rage.

"What are you DOING, idiot! You'll jeopardize the entire mission, making so much noise like that!" Trinity smiled and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He was right, it was Naomi. A good friend of his but she never failed to scare him when she in a rage like this. "If we fail, I WON'T HAVE ANY MERCY ON YOU!" Trinity laughed silently, more nervous than before, and quickly removed the speaker from his ear again, holding it as far away as he could possibly get it. Trust her to prove his point. He didn't need the speaker any closer to hear this. "Rescuing the senator's daughter is the absolute top priority right now. Don't ruin this!"

"Yes, yes. Say, Naomi, could you not be so loud. I'm going to be deaf before I'm thirty at this rate, not to mention…"

"Weren't you **listening**?! This girl is _very _special and_ very _important in this war…apparently. That's what the captain-commander said."

"Right," Trinity replied. "But Naomi…"

"We have to move in now, Trinity. Gold Zero has already scanned the Cats' base with half of our group and is heading towards the rendezvous now. They found that the senator's daughter is somewhere near the left part of the main building. I'm sending the blue prints to your screen now."

"Naomi…"

"You should be receiving it." Trinity sighed, jamming the speaker back into his ear and pulling his helmet down over his head. The visor, also the screen, revealed the blueprints of the base's main building, down at the bottom of the canyon Trinity was currently at. A small, round red dot blinked in the upper left part of the blueprint. The picture zoomed in on the dot representing the daughter.

"I got it. Perhaps that's the commanding officer's room." Trinity said, referring to the room the girl was supposedly located.

"Makes sense. Actually, it's surprising that she isn't on the highest level of the base, since they usually bring hostages there to prevent them escaping easily. Makes it easier for us, it being on the first level, so I can't really complain."

"That's what you think, but the reason is probably because they are extremely confident about something. Perhaps defense has been raised to a point they believe will smear our blood across the floor."

"Lovely thought. Let's go, and DON'T make a ton of noise and screw this up, Trinity."

Trinity sighed. "You make it sound like I do everything wrong."

"You **do**."

"Not true."

"JUST GO, Trinity!"

"Sure, sure. Naomi, but..."

"WHAT!" Trinity winced.

"Maybe you should lower your voice before you lecture me." Naomi was silent for a few moments before Trinity heard her embarrassed cough on the other side of the line.

"The base is right under your position." That was all she said before she closed down the connection. Trinity laughed, and stood. He made a sweep over his equipment, checking to make sure he had everything. His gun and a small knife, both clasped on his black, leather belt. A parachute pack strapped to the pine green army uniform with a grey stripe down both sleeves to show what company he belonged to. Trinity opened the maintenance folder on his visor and checked to see if the jets on the bottoms of his feet were working. Everything seemed green. Satisfied, Trinity peered down the canyon again. He still thought the method the captain-commander told them to perform to travel to the bottom of the canyon was just for his amusement, to see how many would live through it, but whatever. Trinity shrugged.

'_I don't really mind,_' he thought as he jumped headfirst off the edge. _'I just hope he didn't sabotage the parachutes. I can imagine him doing something like that.' _


	2. Chapter 2

**By the way, if you know of any amazing beta-readers, I would appreciate it if you told me some preferences. There is nothing worse than bad beta-readers. I do not mean that personally to any of you.**

Cathigans were really quite a sight to behold. The nickname humans gave them really did fit their profile; they greatly resembled cats. Their bodies were covered from head to toe in dark brown, short-length "fur" that was a bit prickly and scratchy, unpleasant to the touch. Their ears were short, pointy stubs on the sides of their heads and piercing gold eyes that seemed to glow when you looked straight at them. The Cats' nails were sharp and curved slightly, but their cold, metal guards prevented them from hurting their own kind unnecessarily and aimlessly. This rule, of course, did not apply to humans.

At least, that's what the captain-commander said to her. The bit about the rule not applying to humans and that you should be extremely careful if you are meeting in a diplomatic manner, if that ever does happen. Her daddy always said that the captain-commander says a lot of things, sometimes things he doesn't really need to mention. He said that the captain-commander needed to work on encouragement. He would always end a speech explaining the worst possible solution and then say, "Good luck and have a pleasurable rest of the day."

One small girl in the corner farthest away from the door shivered and tugged her beige colored legs closer to her body, golden-brown eyes closing tightly. Blonde hair tumbled from a cap as blue as the afternoon sky, and onto the shoulders of a dress equally blue. It was as if a can was dipped into the wide open blue and stole a bit of the sky itself, giving up its lustrous color just for the sake of the beauty it could make on everyday items. But the dress was rumpled and its white sleeves were stained with debris black soot from the explosion that killed her escorts. The little girl's eyes snapped opened at the horrible memory full of painful screams and burnt corpses lying on the ground in front of her as the Cathigans dragged her away, holding on tightly to her hair until they reached their own commanding officer, where she was bound and thrown on the floor of the transport waiting at the rendezvous. She wished she was with her daddy in the warm, cozy library, and her uncle with that sausage sort of scent that was always following him around. She wished she was with all those nice people on the ship, but they weren't coming back, and it was all her fault.

A click and the sound of moving metal snapped the small girl's head up, her eyes fearfully watching the door across the room as it slowly and noisily opened up, and on the other side was the commanding Cathigan officer, smiling a chilling grin as his intimidating eyes bore into her own frightened ones. As he swaggered into the room, the little girl cringed and pressed herself harder and harder against the bitter, frosty wall as he drew nearer and nearer, until his face was only inches in front of hers.

"Frightened, pathetic Alterian? I do apologize for the harsh behavior and most menacing impression my soldiers showed you." His breath smelled of blood and meat, suggesting he most likely came here straight from dinner. He reached out to touch her face, but the girl hastily struck it aside, now shivering from both cold and fear. She understood the Cathigan language. Her father and uncle had hired tutors to teach her, and the girl had picked it up faster than anyone could expect. She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut again, a memory slowly emerging from the darkness in her mind.

"_Remember, angel," a man sat on his knees to look her straight in the face, a pipe in the palm of his left hand. "If you ever run into any Cathigans, though unseemly as it is, never portray that you know their language. There are plenty of ways to use a girl like you. And…" the man picked up a knitted winter hat from the floor beside him and stuck it firmly on her head so that it covered her ears. "While you are away from home, never, __**ever**__, let someone take off this hat. You can not take it off either, understand?"_

The little girl gulped loudly. '_That's right. Daddy told me to never, ever speak to the aliens. I shouldn't speak to them, but I'm so scared, Daddy. Please save me!' _The Cathigan laughed, patting the hand she had swept away.

"Feisty little Alterian girl! I can't blame you worthless being for feeling fear. Thank that hair of yours. The Lord Hungar likes these colors, so will live to be his pet, if you please him. That's all you dirty Alterians are good for, being brainless pets!" The brawny Cathigan officer cackled thunderously and exited the room, slamming the door shut behind him, but even that couldn't drown his laughter.

The little girl stared at the metal door for a long time before she broke down and cried. _'Someone save me. Someone save me! PLEASE DADDY, SAVE ME!'_

* * *

"Ha _ha_! This base has been officially infiltrated!" A young woman stated triumphantly, hands on her hips. You couldn't exactly see her face through the helmet she wore, but the suit fit neatly on her body and that was enough. She stood in front of her companion and a Cathigan corpse lying dead, obviously, on the hard, steel floor just in front of an open, steel door. In fact, the whole base seemed to be made out of gleaming metal inside and out. The two's view of the outside shell from their position in the shadows pretty much screamed that. Strangely enough, it was unnaturally clean on the inside, except for the occasional blood stains from who knows what, but that was to be expected. The woman tapped her helmet where should be tapping her cranium if the helmet wasn't on in the first place. "All it takes is a little brains."

"What brains? All we did was shoot some random Cat that had coincidently walked out of a door that just happened to open at the right time. There was no way you saw that coming." Her partner shot at her, nudging the limp body with his foot, slamming his foot on the bronze shoulder guard, denting it slightly and, as he feared, also his poor foot. He grimaced and cursed softly at the jolts of pain running up his leg.

"Don't be stupid, Trinity. It definitely was all according my secret 'already-laid-out' plan. The great Naomi has thought of everything."

Trinity snorted. "Did you think of what could happen once they start missing this guy here?" Trinity questioned, returning his recently fired gun to its place on his belt and changing his viewer to clear mode. The door suddenly shut, startling Trinity and making him jump.

"Yosh, let's go! We still have a lot of ground to cover!" Naomi's voice came through the speaker after a long moment of silence, clearly trying to avoid answering the question. Trinity rolled his eyes.

"Geez, Naomi, and you say that I'm…"

"I'm leaving you behind, Trinity!" Naomi said hastily, disappearing around the corner and entering the next steel hallway.

"Listen when people are talking to you!" Trinity called and raced after her, his pace quickening to catch up to his partner, the footstep's echoes bouncing off the walls in all different directions. Before disappearing around the corner like his companion did, Trinity's green eyes glanced back at the Cat corpse briefly. '_I hope that wasn't anybody important around here.' _

Broad, muscular arms stretched as golden eyes gleamed ravenously at the dripping meat in front of them. Large hands gripped the bone of an animal that lived as a hind race on the home planet as simply food for the superior beings. Piercing teeth tore through the flesh, the blood dribbling down his furry chin and onto the cold floor. The cold was nothing, and this temperature was actually preferred. The thick coat protected him and his kind from freezing in the frosty air, though if it dropped any lower it would be labeled as dangerous. Even the superior beings would find it…uncomfortable, but it was better than the outrageous, burning temperature of this forsaken area.

Anger of the Feared Hungar finished everything off the steel plate in such speed that would leave a cheetah frozen in shock. The plate crashed on the ground and would have broken if it wasn't for its tough material make-up. It was made from the same substance as this base, _**his**_base, for he was the commander over it all. No one here would dare defy him, ridicule him, or show any disrespect. It was a pleasing power, the power over a creature's thoughts. Casually licking the remains of his dinner of his hands, that thought flickered in his mind like a small fire you couldn't ignore and his eyes shifted across the room, _**his**_ room, _**his **_den. Pausing, Anger of the Feared Hungar slowly rose from his chair and strode across _**his **_den in such a manner as if he were king, which he thought of himself highly as.

Anger of the Feared Hungar placed his hand on a pad inserted into the wall and waited while it read the Cathigan gene inside him and the door swiftly slid open. The guard forever standing as still as possible stood to the right, the face emotionless and aware. As his superior exited, the guard turned his body to face his lord and saluted in the Cathigan fashion, unsheathed claws on the right hand poised directly over the heart and a slight bow added as a signal of respect.

"My lord."

"Where is Fear?" The guard straightened back up before answering.

"The captain has not yet arrived, lord." Anger of the Feared Hungar growled in frustration and impatience and pawed the air angrily.

"How long will the blasted fool keep me waiting? He should have arrived long ago. This act of disobedience will not go unpunished." He swung around and walked back inside, "Inform me immediately when you see him." He managed to demand just before the doors closed. The guard saluted to the door and returned to his position.

"This is the fifth door we broke down and we still aren't seeing any Cats!" Naomi tapped her foot on the ground once, arms folded haughtily. Trinity smiled nervously.

"Why do the get the impression that you're disappointed, Naomi?"

"Where the heck are they?" She smacked the melting tool held in her left hand, called the "AE 100", on the palm of the other hand hard. The "AE 100" was a funky looking object, sort of reminding one of a one-scoop ice cream cone with a large candle sticking out of the top. It could melt through practically everything, and it was the tool the two intruders used to weaken and break down the steel door. Naomi glared at what seemed to be a storage room filled with sealed metal crates and sighed disappointedly. "Maybe they're all out for lunch."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Trinity asked, thinking to himself that it was strange enough that every single member of the enemy was taking a break…at the same time, not knowing Naomi was thinking the same thing. When she didn't reply, he continued. "Besides, is this really the time to be looking for Cats?"

"Who said I was?!" She snapped, her body moving with the same questioned fury that was mixing with her words as she strode out the door. Trinity held his hands up defensively.

"Nobody at all! What I meant was…well…" Naomi glared suspiciously at Trinity before marching away.

"Come _on_, Trinity. We have to find that girl!"

"_You're_ telling me that?" He whispered softly.

"What?"

"Nothing. You're right, let's hurry." He was impatient to get out of here as soon as possible and get this mission over with. He really hated this place and the suspenseful feeling it gave off. They already wasted fifteen minutes just destroying random doors to random rooms, the reason, naturally, was unknown to Trinity. He was only following a girl. "What goes on in a woman's brain will never be comprehended by the male mind," were the words spoken from the mouth from who Trinity believed at this moment to be an extremely wise person.

On the helmet's visor, Trinity opened the map of the base once again and roughly guessed where they were. Eyes following a series of hallways, he found a path relatively simple to follow. "Naomi?" the young woman grunted in reply. "After this next turn, take two lefts and there should be a door to another antechamber we need to destroy."

"Yeah, yeah, fine. I got ya." Trinity smiled crookedly.

'_Still grumpy, it seems.'_

Following Trinity's instructions and getting lost once or twice, the two crept closer to the first half of their missions end, melting and breaking down one door after another until they stood before the last door preventing them to go any further. Trinity closed the map file. Behind this door was the corridor holding the prison of the Cat's captive, and the melting thing was out of juice. Naomi pocketed the dead tool and reached out, banging noisily on the door's surface, gun already in hand.

"If they don't have guards _at least_ posted here, then people 'round here are idiots." Trinity merely shrugged and raised his own gun to the door.

'_If there isn't,' _he thought, _'then we're gonna have to blast it to pieces. The noise would have to alert somebody, and that would eventually alert everybody in this forsaken place. Then there's a good chance we'd die…viciously. It would be great if they didn't have to blow it up. It would be just great if the door would just open…'_

The door slid open. Trinity blinked in surprise at the two Cathigan guards staring straight back. He honestly didn't expect there to be anybody here, considering the emptiness they've encountered so far, and he probably imagined that the Cats didn't exactly expect anything _not_ Cathigan to be standing in front of them. Before anyone else reacted, Naomi shot them and raced through the entrance while Trinity still stood in a daze.

"Trinity, get your rear in gear! We've got less than twenty seconds before our way out is automatically shut!" Naomi's command snapped Trinity back to reality.

"Oh…right," he said, slightly embarrassed, and ran after her shooting a Cat of his own.


	3. Chapter 3

She had fallen asleep; or rather she had fallen into a dreamlike trance where nothing that was happening right now never happened at all. She was like that for a while, until she heard Cathigans shouting commands and the sound of guns being fired. Thumps of bodies, or what she expected to be bodies but she didn't know whose, echoed through the walls, until a sudden strange silence ceased all form of sound. The girl pulled her legs in closer to her chest and rested her chin on her knees. What went on out there? Was someone trying to save her? That seemed unlikely, but it was a good enough hope to be clinging to. Whatever happened, it seemed to be over now…

The thought immediately disappeared from existence in her mind as the entrance across the room abruptly opened and she heard one last gunshot before she saw anything at all. One solitary being, dressed in what she thought was some sort of a familiar uniform, rushed in. The face was hidden from her sight by a helmet with a dark window, hiding the identity and race of the stranger. It scared her even more than she was before, feeling as though she was going to be captured once again, so when the stranger wrapped an arm around her small waist she let out a little yelp of protest and probably would have kicked him or her, if it even had a gender, if she wasn't lifted and raced out the door.

Once in the hallway, the girl observed the scene as soon as she could, counting five Cathigan bodies lying dead on the floor or against the wall, and saw a life form belonging to what she guessed was the same species as the Carrier, waving a hand furiously as if to say "hurry". She guessed this one was a female, since the body shape seemed similar to the females she had seen in the city. The girl's body jerked as the Carrier ran towards the door, practically diving through it with the Female only moments before it shut, hiding the corpses until they were later discovered. The two unknowns stared at each other, just stared but didn't speak. If they did, then the girl very well couldn't hear them. And since she had been taught to take opportunities when presented to her, she simply took this promising one. A bony elbow to the ribs and a sharp cry of pain as a reaction of a face pressing uncomfortably against the cold floor and it was over in an instant. It hurt, a lot.

She rose to her knees and rubbed her delicate nose, where unfortunately most of the shock was absorbed. Twisting her neck to look behind her shoulder, she watched the female whack the Carrier's helmet harshly while the Carrier held the injured part, courtesy of the girl. The female took a step towards her and held out a hand, and the girl suddenly remembered that she should be running for her life instead of just sitting here. She jumped to her feet and stumbled a few inches before the female put a hand on her shoulder and held her firmly in place.

"Hold your horses, miss." The girl paused. The female spoke in the human tongue. Somewhat startled, she glanced at the stranger out of the corner of her eye warily. "Sorry we startled you," the female laughed. "To put it bluntly, we're here to rescue you." The girl just looked intently at the other for a moment, then shook her head slowly at first but quickening the pace drastically.

"No, no, I do not believe you. You are probably some alien in disguise, a Cathigan pretending to be human and using a translator to speak to me!" The female sighed softly. Releasing her shoulder, the female motioned for the girl to stay put, and the girl willingly obeyed, eyeing the gun strapped around the waist. The female laid her hands on the helmet and pulled sharply up, releasing the head from its hold. The female pushed back her hair and smiled at the girl, kneeling on the ground at the girl's eye level and laid her helmet on the ground.

"See, I'm human. My name happens to be Naomi León." The girl blinked and took in the female's features. She was relatively pale, almost as if she was never in the sun for long periods of time. Her eyes were the dark polished wood of her father's favorite library chair, a deep brown. Her hair was cropped short in layers, the bangs grown out and positioned on both sides of her face hanging down to the end of her chin, held in place with silver, gleaming pins. The rest of her hair rose higher, kind of like stairs, circling to the back of her head, shining black like a raven's feather. The size of her face was neither large nor small, as was her mouth fitting nicely under her round nose. She was thin, but not as thin as those women she had seen on some pictures in her uncle's personal belongings, who looked as though they starved themselves to near death. This Naomi person clearly seemed fit and quite healthy.

Naomi pointed at the other, the Carrier, behind her, massaging the injured side. "So, if I'm human, that means that the idiot over there is one too, I'm sorry to say. We should just hand him over to the Cats and have them get rid of him for us." Naomi laughed as the girl gazed at her with a horrified stare. "I'm only kidding, miss." The Carrier turned in their direction and just looked, making the girl wonder if "he" was trying to speak again. Naomi rolled her eyes. "You don't have the audio speaker on, stupid. Just take off the helmet like I did and make our lives easier, Trinity." As commanded, the Carrier, or "Trinity" as Naomi had mentioned, removed the helmet and tucked it under his arm versus lying on the floor like Naomi did.

"Thank you for actually using my name for once. I do like to keep just one." Trinity glared at Naomi while she shrugged and looked away. He blew a strand of hair from his face and smiled crookedly at the girl, an apologetic gleam in his leafy-green eyes. "As this rude and rather irritating hippo mentioned, my name's Trinity, miss. Sorry for dropping you." He bowed slightly, the unruly hair's color reminding her of the oak stairs back home, though the tiniest darker than the wood. She thought it fit his emerald gaze. His skin tone was tanner than Naomi's, suggesting he spent more time under the sun than his partner did, even though it still wasn't as tan as some of the workers she had seen in the industrial section of the city. She could tell he was strong and his muscles were firm but he was still lean unlike the pictures and actual people she had seen with obviously large muscles and very stocky build that her father had called "body-builders". He was a little over half of the girl's height and about 3-4 inches taller than Naomi. He smiled a nice crooked smile, and at the moment seemed a bit embarrassed. Perhaps it was for dropping her.

"Who's the hippo?!!" Naomi protested loudly, leaping to her feet and advancing towards Trinity. He backed up a few steps and plugged his ears with his fingers, trying his best to ignore her. "And just when you got on my case for calling you more than one name, you clumsy idiot. Besides, YOU'RE the one with a funky name! Not to mention you dropped the Miss, and you trip over your own feet at the most ridiculous times!" The girl raised a hand timidly.

"Excuse me…" She whispered.

"My name was not under my control, it was my _mother's _doing. I at least said sorry to her...and I'm not that…Ah." Trinity had turned sharply to argue but lost his footing and fell flat on his back on the hard floor. "Ow."

Naomi laughed. "See what I mean?"

"You just said pick her up, run, and make it fast. That's what I did. How was I supposed to know she'd act hostile?"

"Excuse me." The girl tried again, but the words were lost.

"The way you handled it, anyone would! Be gentler! Don't place the blame on the kid…I mean the miss." Trinity opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted when the girl cleared her throat noisily. They both turned their attention towards her, making the girl shuffle her feet a bit. She tugged her blue, knitted hat and ran her fingers through her blonde hair shyly.

"Um…you two…you don't have to call me 'miss' all the time." Trinity stood and pulled on his ruffled sleeves, glancing at Naomi while she did the same, and then shifted their amused gaze back to the girl.

"Well," Trinity started.

"We don't have anything else to call you." Naomi finished for him. The girl's own eyes pierced theirs before she hesitantly replied.

"Vivi. My name is Vivi Kelchane."

"Alright, Miss Vivi…"

"Just Vivi, please. I get uncomfortable with the 'miss' added on." They both nodded and were about to reply when footsteps resounded off the walls. Naomi cursed and bent down in front of Vivi, indicating for her to climb on her back. Vivi did so, and when they both rose, Trinity had drawn his gun and shot.

Cathigan soldiers filled the corridor Trinity and Naomi had used to get to this spot, and chances of fighting and winning where probably fifty to one with the odds stacked against them. The leading Cat was the most threatening, most intimidating of the bunch. The Cat stopped and raised his hand, palm facing outwards in the path of the bullet, and stopped it in mid-air. The bullet just floated there under the startled glares of the two human soldiers. Then for a short moment a small amount of air pressure was added and the bullet reversed its direction and headed towards the one that fired it in the first place. Trinity gritted his teeth and jumped to one side, luckily unharmed. But a glance at the helmet under his arm told him that it was an uncomfortably close miss. The bulletproof visor was completely shattered and a hole in the back was unbelievably larger than it's normally supposed to be.

Trinity dropped the helmet on the ground, slowly creeping closer to Naomi's side. "I'm lucky that helmet wasn't my head."

"Perhaps you won't think that way when we tell headquarters we got another instrument damaged and left behind." Naomi replied, reaching into her chest pocket and taking out a small box looking thing with a pin attached to a side. "You know what to do." Trinity nodded and Naomi grabbed the pin with her teeth and pulled it out, throwing the box on the floor in front of them and spitting the pin in between the two helmets on the ground. Black smoke rapidly emitted from the opening where the pin used to be, the bodies of the three disappearing before the Cathigans' eyes. Trinity and Naomi ran, and when they were a certain distance away, Trinity fired a bullet at the pin and hit the mark, the pin exploding as a result and demolishing the helmets.

(A.N. We shall refer Anger of the Feared Hungar as the Cathigan officers would refer to him: Hungar. I have decided to take pity on my fingers.)

Hungar had waited long enough for his subordinate's report and had left his room, gathering ten or fifteen soldiers, planning to execute his subordinate right when we found him. As the god Hungar's will had it, the Cathigan's corpse was found lying in front of the main building's main doors. If the smell of Alterians wasn't completely surrounding the body, Hungar would have just been satisfied that he had been struck down by the god himself, but the fury that this worthless garbage allowed Alterians to overpower him and infest _**his**_command overpowered him. _**His**_ building was now contaminated with dirty Alterians because of this creature's worthlessness. It disgusted him completely. This would not go unpunished. The Alterians would pay for soiling _**his**_ ground.

Hungar went directly to the room where the captive was being held only to find that the Alterians had already freed the young one, which meant that the weaklings behind the closed door were dead as well. Alterians were vicious beings even if they were frail. One immediately fired at him, and Hungar effortlessly stopped the pathetic, small weapon with one hand and sent it back. He growled disappointedly when it missed the jumpy Alterian. That one communicated with the one carrying the captive on its back, and the next thing that happened was the black smoke that blocked them from his sight and a small explosion sounding from somewhere within.

The Alterians were gone by the time the smoke dispersed, and the ridiculous head shields they had were completely annihilated. If Alterians were anything but vicious, they were resourceful when the time came. They would become valuable slaves. Raising a hand, he signaled a soldier to come forward. "Inform the troops to block any escape from this building. Lead them to the throne room." The soldier bowed and rushed to follow the order. Hungar motioned the rest of them to follow him as he walked in a different direction. "Accompany me to the throne room. He shall kill the Alterians there."


	4. Chapter 4

**This one is…long. This pretty much ends my entire English project. On word it came to 24 pages, I believe, and the limit was actually 6-10 pages. *sigh* I couldn't seem to convince myself that I could write a good story in 10 pages max. Oh well, I still got an A. Anywho, even if no one reviews, I'm gonna keep on writing. If you do R&R, I thank you for your support. **

Trinity and Naomi skidded to a stop, facing the fourth group of Cats they ran into in such a short period of time. They were _everywhere_, as impossible as that seemed. It was a routine of running away from a mass chasing after them, and then losing that mass only to find another one. There wasn't a bit of rest. A couple of times Naomi was sick of everything and drew her gun to shoot, but was always stopped by Trinity, who told her to think of her package before she tried anything reckless.

Finally Naomi stopped and rested her head against the wall, tired from carrying another body other than her own through all that strenuous activity. Vivi and Trinity exchanged glances. The little girl tapped Naomi's shoulder.

"I can get down now." Naomi shook her head, refusing the request. Stood behind the two and Vivi nodded when he fixed her with a questioning gaze. He put his hands under her arms and tried to release Vivi from Naomi's hold. When Naomi felt the load get lighter she tightened her grip on Vivi's legs.

"Naomi…"

"I don't need your pity, Trinity." Naomi growled. Trinity sighed. She was so touchy on that point.

"I know, Naomi, but I assure you that there is no pity involved here. For the sake of this mission we have to go as fast as we can." He paused to let his words sink in. "We'll switch off, to save our energy." There was silence while Naomi thought about what Trinity said, and then loosened her grip and released Vivi from her hold. Vivi climbed on Trinity's back and they both waited while Naomi caught her breath. She was never really good at sprinting for long periods of time but even the best had to pant a bit after all that. Cathigans could run at least two times as long without having those conditions.

"I'm fine," Naomi said, straightening up and breathing in sharply. "Let's get going. I want to get out of here as soon as possible." Trinity nodded, and they set off again, Naomi leading the way this time. It was strange that there were certain places that were deserted when others were crowded with the aliens, but the humans didn't have time to think about that; their mind was set on breaking free to even notice that they were being lead. They could only hope that they would leave this place with as little injuries as possible, or without dying.

Turning another corner, Naomi finally caught sight of two large doors. These ones were different from the others. They were solid wood, quite different from everything else, and they had iron, circular handles. The three humans paused, suspicious of the doors and the room it might lead to, but the cries of approaching aliens told them otherwise, and they were reduced to taking a chance and opening the entrance of life or death. Trinity took the left while Naomi held the right and both pulled with all their might, heaving apart their way in. As soon as they created a crack big enough that they could slip through, Trinity stopped and ran in first, followed closely by his companion. Immediately, they leaned on the doors and closed them, panting heavily and calming their pumping hearts. Opening his eyes and looking forward, Trinity's heart froze completely and his eyes narrowed in shock. On his back, Vivi gasped and shuddered, hiding her face. Naomi cursed and banged on the doors angrily. In front of them stood that Cat they met before, the one that stopped Trinity's bullet and completely turned it against him. He was standing on a platform in front of a tall chair in the middle of the room, grinning, and said something in his language the soldiers couldn't comprehend.

A grin spread on Hungar's lips as the doors to_** his**_ throne room slowly opened and the Alterians came into his sight once again. When they finally noticed they were in _**his**_ presence, he spoke to them even though he knew already there was no way they would understand.

"I was starting to worry that I would have to opened the doors myself and invite you stupid Alterians in." His grin turned smug. "Welcome to your deaths."

Vivi listened to the words that only she out of the three could understand. "I was starting to worry that I would have to opened the doors myself and invite you stupid Alterians in. Welcome to your deaths." They had walked right into a trap, and under the suit, Vivi felt Trinity's muscles tense and his heart skip a beat. Sweat formed on the side of his face and he held his breath for a considerable length of time. Naomi cursed and cursed again, banging the door over and over. Then she paused and looked at Trinity from the corner of her eye.

"We need to distract him." Trinity snorted disbelievingly, obviously thinking there was a fat chance that would work. "But we can't let Vivi get involved with the distraction, so set her down." Trinity looked at her quizzically but sank to his knees and released Vivi on the floor. "Good, now make sure to distract him for as long as you can manage." Trinity fell forward as if someone whacked the back of his head and did a face plant against the metal ground.

"I thought you were going to say that." His muffled voice stated, exasperated.

"Now don't act like that, Trinity. You have to do it for the sake of the mission."

"Why can't you…" Trinity jumped to his feet and threw his face right in front of Naomi as she took Vivi's hand. "…be the sacrifice?"

"I need you to distract him while I plant some bombs on the walls. If I remember correctly, this room is the closest to the rendezvous point."

"So?"

"I have the explosives, you don't." Naomi said simply.

"You're just making excuses!!"

"Idiot. Can't you tell his focus is on you right now? Are you really that ignorant?" Trinity fumed for a moment about being called ignorant, but Vivi bit her lip. She knew Naomi was right. She knew the Cathigan commander was focusing his stare completely on the young man. She watched as Trinity took a deep breath and sigh.

"Why is it always me?"

Naomi shrugged. "You're the one that shot without thinking before."

"I wasn't asking you." Trinity replied angrily.

"Whatever. Just distract already." Vivi tugged on her hat while Trinity took another deep breath and sighed. Pulling out his gun, he twirled around and shot aimlessly around the room. Cathigans tried to take cover but were shot by flailing bullets, and the commander just stared, raising his hand and stopping most of the bullets that came towards him. Only a few succeeded in scratching him, most minor but one or two bled heavily. The Cathigan growled angrily.

Hungar watched the amusing scene the Alterians played. By the tone of their voices it could be that they were arguing, perhaps about who's to die first, or if they should just give up the golden girl and try to leave peacefully, or perhaps…

Hungar frowned as the male Alterian spun around and shot his weapon recklessly around the throne room, _**his **_throne room. Whether on purpose or not, the Alterian killed all of his guards, who were unable to escape in time or were stupid enough to just stand there. It was no trouble to the commander, but he couldn't stop them all. Parts of his body started to sting a bit as bullets barely made contact with the mark. "Filthy Alterian…you _will_ die. I will kill you myself." Once the bullets ceased, Hungar removed the dulled metal from his sharp claws and stepped down from his platform.

Naomi gaped at Trinity as he randomly shot his gun. "What do you think you are doing?!"

"Distracting," he answered without looking at her. Naomi smacked her forehead. Trinity's gun clicked as he pulled the trigger. Trinity inspected the weapon and shrugged. "Out of bullets…"

"Obviously," Naomi growled. "Now what, genius?" Trinity turned around and winked.

"Now you run while he's occupied." Naomi glanced at the Cat and watched him slowly remove the metal guards one by one. "Only way to fully distract him is to fight him, right?" Naomi opened her mouth to reply, then closed it and tightened her grip on Vivi's hand and hid from the Cat's sight. Her pack hit the floor and she rummaged through its contents, pulling out a circular looking object, flashing a soft yet bold blue color around the middle where "COP – 5" was printed.

Trinity watched Naomi and Vivi scamper hurriedly out of his sight and sighed. He was talking big there, with his adrenaline racing in his blood. He hoped he at least seemed confident. As the Cat drew nearer, Trinity's finger slid under the barrel of the gun and shifted slightly, a switch moving to the right to a different level. "Gear Two." He said, raising the gun and pointing the gun at the enemy. The Cat laughed, saying something in his language while still advancing on his "prey". Trinity pulled the trigger and fired a black light in the rough form of a teardrop towards the startled alien.

Vivi poked her head from behind the throne platform in the middle of the room. She tugged on her hat and watched curiously as Trinity fired something she hadn't seen before. She raced over to where Naomi was planting a bomb on a wall and tugged on her uniform. "Naomi, what is that Trinity is shooting?"

"Hm?" Naomi mumbled, slightly distracted. "What's it look like?" Vivi twirled a finger in her hair.

"Kind of like an oval with a pointy end." Naomi looked at the girl, puzzled, and stretched her neck to see past the platform.

"Ah, that teardrop looking thing," she stated once she managed to catch a glimpse of it. "That would be a 'Gear Two' form of a bullet."

"Gear Two?"

"Yep. N.A.O…you do know what N.A.O is, right?" Vivi nodded. "Good, well they enhanced the normal gun to a new level, adding a stronger…power to it. 'Gear Two', as they call it, doesn't exactly need a bullet, but there are certain elements in the barrel of the gun that combine and cause a…mini explosion, I guess, and that just shoots out." Vivi blinked, not exactly comprehending Naomi's explanation. Naomi sighed. "I don't understand it myself. If you want to know, ask the chemic, science, and who-cares-what-else geeks what the heck they did."

Trinity dodged the claws of the Cat, his face barely missing the sharp, potentially dangerous points. The gun felt lighter, which meant the thing was almost out of juice. He shifted his gaze to where he last saw Vivi's head watching their battle. He was succeeding in completely erasing the two girls from the Cat's mind, but Naomi should have been done by now. _'She better not be taking her time setting those bombs up. Who said I can distract him forever?' _Trinity grunted as he felt a breeze as the Cat's claws barely missed him again and marveled at the speed. _'As expected from a commander, or at least I think he's a commander. It won't be long until he catches up t…'_

Trinity's thought was shattered as he cried out, bolts of pain speeding through his arm. He glanced down; catching a quick glimpse of two of the Cat's claws that pierced through his left arm before the Cat pulled them away, grinning triumphantly. Trinity dropped his gun and covered the spots where his blood was spilling out, wincing, glaring at the alien as it chuckled softly, turning into an all out hysterical laugh. The Cat raised his claws to his lips, and his tongue reached out, licking a small amount of the blood into his mouth. Trinity cursed as he saw the Cat's eyes turn blood red and backed away, out of the Cat's reach and continued to back away.

Vivi bit back a despaired moan. Even from a distance she could see the Cathigan's eyes with her exceptional sight. She knew what that meant, when a Cathigan's eyes turned scarlet like that: they were berserk. She remembered the lesson on that topic, the danger of that situation. It was a phase of mind where everything was forgotten except their one desire: to kill. In that state a Cathigan would kill his own comrades if they were in his sight, if they got in his way. They gain an out-of-control power, their strength doubles, triples, or…well, the point was made. They get a ridiculous amount of speed and strength for a period of time, until they return to normal, for those who could relatively control it, or until they destroyed themselves.

Bottom line was that a Cathigan's berserk mode was threateningly perilous. Apparently N.A.O had come up with a sort of power that could match up to the force of the berserk mode, but Vivi didn't remember what it was called…all she knew was that the commander was serious, completely serious about killing his opponent. Vivi shuddered and backed away the same time Trinity did. There was no doubt in her mind. Trinity was going to die if they didn't get out of here soon.

The Cat quickly leaped at him, claws outstretched, adapting to the berserk state of mind faster than Trinity expected. He tried to dodge it completely but as it swept past his left side blood spilled from underneath a torn uniform. Trinity gasped and shut his eyes at the pain, but that proved to be a mistake. It was always taught at Headquarters to never take your eyes off an attacking Cat if possible. The Cat raised Trinity off the ground by his throat and slammed him against a nearby wall and drove his claws directly under the shoulder on his right. Trinity tried to pry open the fingers squeezing his throat and felt a shout preparing itself, but it never had a chance to be released. The Cat pulled his arm back and continually slammed his victim against the wall, so much that he eventually dented it to a point where even the most ignorant person would notice.

After a series of blows to the wall, the alien paused for a quick second before throwing the human at the wall again. That was all Trinity needed to add something of his own in the fight. With much effort, after being hitting the wall with all that force, Trinity lifted his leg and struck with all the strength he could muster, striking the center of the alien's chest with his heel. The Cat grunted and released his grip, dropping Trinity on the floor and sliding back a few feet. Trinity sat on his knees, breathing as deeply as his aching lungs would allow, his heart pumping wildly, and rose to his feet, staggering a few steps before he could actually stand still.

Feeling his strength slowly return Trinity reached in the collar of his uniform and pulled out a chain. On it was a symbol, three tiny silver circles and resting in the middle was a blue fire. _'I can't screw this up now. If I'm not serious, I __**will **__die, and so will everyone else. I can't play nice anymore.'_ The Cat stared towards the human and started to step forward, and as he did, Trinity gripped the symbol and ripped it off the chain.

Instantly a golden light shone underneath his feet and formed itself into three circles, the same circles on the chain and on the uniform helmets. Surrounding those three circles was a large one, almost like a barrier. Like it was protecting the circles and restraining them at the same time. Trinity raised both of his arms until they were aligned with his shoulders. The Cat watched as Trinity's hands and wrists disappeared for a few seconds and then suddenly reappear, drawing out two long objects as if his hands were reaching into an invisible compartment. As soon as the objects were pulled completely out of wherever they came from, the gold light changed into a bold blue glow.

Trinity lowered his arms again, thumbs shifting underneath the rim and pushed, sounds of clicking as the rim and its body separated, sliding off and onto the floor, revealing the silvery gleam of a sword's blade. Trinity raised his emerald eyes and gazed directly into the Cat's ruby stare. "Sapphire Phoenix."

Vivi breathed deeply in awe of the luminous blue and how the light reflected off the swords' blades. It was a beautiful sight. She tiptoed over to where Naomi was struggling with attaching the last bomb and tugged on her uniform. "Naomi, look!"

"I'm busy." The older girl growled, frustrated.

"But it is so pretty! Naomi, where did that light come from, and how did Trinity get swords." Naomi impatiently huffed and glanced over to the battle she had been ignoring all the time. Her gaze softened a little and all the impatience flew away.

"Oh, that. That, Vivi, is called 'Trinity Circle'." Naomi shifted her gaze at the younger girl. "I assume you have heard of it." Vivi nodded, and then shook her head. "Well, what is it? Either you know it or you don't."

"Well, I have heard of it, or at least the name, but I do not know what it is." Naomi shrugged and continued to struggle with the "COP – 5".

"To put it simply, I guess, it's a weapon created by N.A.O. They make most of everything nowadays. The reason it's called 'Trinity' is because they take three different…materials and combine them to make it one being. That's one theory. The other is that it takes those materials and calls a being from a different dimension, a different world and brings it to this world as a weapon. The oldest theory, a theory that is abandoned by everyone except for a few states that the weapons is a part of soul, of what's in our soul, or at least I think that's it. Honestly, I have no clue. It's kind of up for scientific debate. For all we know, it could be none of these.

"Anyway, each 'Trinity Circle', each weapon, is different. There are different powers, different effects, and different names. The only thing that they all share is that they drain your life force." Vivi gawked at Naomi, shocked at such a side effect. "Not permanently, though! If you rest and take it easy for a while, it will come back and you'll be as good as new. That's why you can't fight with 'Trinity Circle' for too long. You'll eventually die if you don't know your own limit." Vivi nodded, beginning to understand what she just said, but it still wasn't that clear to her. Her curiosity was rising quickly, immediately asking questions in her head, like, "What are the materials used", "How come it drains your life force", or "If we can draw them from _their_ world, can we be pulled into from ours into theirs". Vivi succeeded in suppressing all those questions and many more, knowing Naomi was busy with a crucial something else.

"So, what is Trinity's weapon called?" Vivi's curiosity had to know _something_.

"Sapphire Phoenix."

"Phoenix? So is his special power fire?"

"Part of it specializes in that element, yes."

"So what is yours, Naomi?" Naomi turned her head and winked.

"Watch me fight sometime and you might find out." Vivi pouted a bit, then returned to her former position, watching the battle while Naomi softly cursed at the bomb.

The moment Trinity's feet left their spot, the bold light vanished, leaving only him and his weapons. "Sapphire Phoenix" had increased his speed and strength enough so that he could match the Cat's berserk. He leaped at him and brought one of his sharp blades down towards the alien's head. The Cat growled and blocked the blade with one arm, with some difficulty, and grabbed an approaching blade to his chest, stopping it only inches away from its mark but cutting his hand deeply. Roaring furiously, the Cat threw his opponent over his head and across the room. Trinity twisted, landing on the back of the throne room chair and launching off it, the momentum carrying him at the twice the speed of if he just ran towards him.

The Cat jumped to one side, baring his teeth when blood spurted from his cheek. Looking around to find the human, he spotted Trinity just in time to dodge another flying attack, but didn't completely succeed as he found that a deep cut had formed on his left arm. More furious than ever he sprung towards the human, red eyes blazing. He swiped at the legs, at the chest, neck, everywhere, clashing against two gleaming blades. He couldn't scratch Trinity; it was practically impossible. Trinity matched the blows with equal speed and strength, his green eyes refusing to close and die. But even so, his situation was the same as the Cat's. He couldn't get a chance to finish this, to make his enemy breath his last and become cold stone. Everyone that had 'Trinity Circle's power knew it as dangerous to be battling for long, even if you could go on for hours, or maybe even days. It would be great if Naomi would hurry up. What did she think he was doing, dancing?

"Finally!" Naomi shouted, then clapped a hand over her mouth, realizing she really shouldn't be making a whole ton of noise, and pumped a fist in the air. She actually managed to make the retarded bomb _stick_. It was so stubborn! Reaching a hand into a pocket, she pulled out a small circular object with a red button smack in the middle. Naomi cocked an eyebrow. _'How more obvious can you get?'_ she thought and pushed it, dropping it on the ground and twisting her body around while the three bombs she planted started to count down, not vocally of course.

10…

9…

8…

Naomi grabbed Vivi's arm and continued to run towards the throne chair.

7…

6…

5…

They crouched down behind it, facing the back of the room.

4…

3…

2…

'_Wait a second. I planted one on that back wall. Should we really be…?'_

1…

All around them flames erupted and the walls exploded with a loud bang pounding in their ears. Covering her eyes with her hand, she saw through a crack in her fingers the space in front of her and yelped. Placing an arm around Vivi's shoulders she pushed the younger girl down to the floor as a large chunk of metal crashed on the back of the chair above them and falling to the side. Naomi raised her head wearily and sighed. '_No, I suppose not.'_

The sound of the explosion was practically music to his ears. It was loud and harsh music to the ears, but music all the same. Trinity grinned, relaxing a bit, losing his focus on the opponent. Shifting his sight behind him to get a view of the damaged, he was disappointed to find a cloud, made from tiny shards of metal, was obstructing his sight so that he could see only a foggy outline of a hole in the back wall. The gray and silver mist swirled in the air, and Trinity could not see Naomi and Vivi at all. He bit his lip until it started to bleed and gripped his swords tightly, worrying over whether or not they had been gravely hurt by the blast.

The Cathigan grinned, finally able to see an opening in Trinity's defense. He would make sure that the human would regret ever turning his back on an enemy as powerful as he was. The Cat advanced on the unaware human, raising his arm and swinging it mightily down towards Trinity's head. The Cat's berserk eyes glinted and his grin grew wider in triumph as a swift and deadly blow flew towards his unexpecting opponent.

A tiny spark, or a small voice as some people would describe, flashed in Trinity's mind, warning him of something that he couldn't guess at the moment. Then his mind froze as he remembered the situation _he _was in, and an important lesson that was drilled into every soldier's head.

'_Never take your eyes off your opponent. Especially in a one-on-one battle. No matter the circumstances, no matter the situation your companions could be in, remember that a glance in the wrong direction, an opportunity you give to an enemy, could prove to be a fatal_ _flaw.' _

Trinity swung his head around just in time to spot the coming strike and just in time to shift his stance and raise his weapons defensively, but a second too late to completely deflect it. He managed to parry part of the blow and change its direction, but that barely did anything to the momentum. The Cat's claws sliced through the uniform covering Trinity's chest and side. Trinity cried out in pain and his breath shuddered, his body seeming to be entering a state of shock. His eyes stared, watching blood free itself from his skin from the middle of his chest to his waist on the right side of his body, staining the area around the long tears on his green uniform.

His legs shook and Trinity stumbled slightly, his endurance strained as he willed himself to remain standing. The Cathigan spat disappointedly, but satisfied that Trinity's body was affected enough from the deep cuts to limit his irritating movements. The Cat raised his claws to his lips and licked some of the blood dripping off the sides. It was satisfactory, yes, but the Cat wanted to play the human a bit more before dealing the finishing blow. His fingers curled slightly so that it formed a half fist, taking in consideration the fact that piercing one's hand with his own claws was not a smart concept. Taking advantage of Trinity's weakened state, the Cat retracted his arm and thrusted it forward, aimed directly for his chest.

Trinity saw it coming, but even so it wouldn't have helped him at all in his current state. He it took most of his remaining strength just to be standing, and even if he tried, he wouldn't be able to dodge this time. Just before the impact, Trinity shut his eyes and braced himself.

The blow sent him flying. The force against his chest stopped his breath and forced his mouth to cough up some blood. Through the air and across the room he flew and eventually his back collided with the top of the throne room chair. His body flipped over and landed on the other side, blocked from the Cat's view.

Vivi almost screamed when an object slammed only two feet away from her, startling both her and Naomi to the point where their skeleton could have jumped out of their skin. The young girl took a few deep breaths and stared at the…long object, or at least longer and bigger than hers, trying to guess what it could be through the metallic fog.

"Holy Mother of God!" Naomi whispered, seeming twice as startled as Vivi was for two seconds until a worried look overcame it. She inched closer and reached out touch the object. She bit her lip and reached under it, turning it over and reaching into her pack. The young woman shuffled through it and brought out a flashlight. Vivi stared at the pack.

'_How much stuff can that sack carry?!' _She thought, amazed, while Naomi turned the flashlight on and shone it over the thing in front of her. Naomi cursed and kept cursing when Vivi stifled a gasp.

"Trinity," Naomi muttered, placing a hand on his chest and the other feeling for his pulse in his neck while holding the flashlight between her teeth. "Dang it, you're not making my job any easier, you idiot." Her muffled voice growled fiercely as she gazed at the blood on her hand. Trinity laughed shakily, and then coughed up more blood at the effort.

"Sorry abou…about that," Trinity said huskily, gasping for as much air as his aching lungs would allow. "Caught me off gu…guard, that's…all." Naomi snorted.

"Ell, oiusly. Tot oo uld have larned py now tat it is pad fer ur helth hen oo hoo tat." (Translation: Well, obviously. Thought you would have learned by now that it is bad for your health when you do that.)

"Yeah…guess you…you're right." Trinity said, breathing deeply now that things had calmed down a bit. Naomi removed the flashlight from her mouth and sat back, sighing and rubbing her forehead, thinking furiously. After a few seconds she dropped the flashlight back in her pack and handed it to Vivi.

"Hold that, please. I'm going to be carrying a much heavier load. We can't relax yet." Vivi nodded and swung it over her shoulders. Trinity glanced up at Naomi.

"That's not a good…idea, Naomi. There is…no way we will be able…to get out of here wi…with you carrying me." Trinity pushed himself into a sitting position using his forearms, and with much effort. "I can walk…by myself." Naomi rolled her eyes.

"Oh please. You can't even speak one sentence without pausing at least once or twice, and you're telling me you can just stand up and walk, just like that? I don't think so." Trinity opened his mouth to argue with her, but coughed instead. Naomi knelt on one knee next to him. "And you aren't feeling so well. You're coughing up blood and that is _never_ a good sign." Trinity sighed and ruffled his hair, frustrated. Naomi smiled slightly. "Yeah, I know how you feel. Can you at least turn your 'Trinity Circle' off?" Trinity nodded and removed an extra chain from a leg pocket and slid it through the 'Trinity Circle' pendant he had held in his hand the entire time. Motioning for Naomi to help him, he circled it around his neck and clasped the chain ends shut.

As soon as it was done, the swords in Trinity's hands slowly dissolved, starting from the tips of the blades down to the bottom of the blue and silver hilt. Naomi shifted her crouching stance so that Trinity could climb on her back and heaved herself up, grunting with the effort. "We're lucky to have this cloud shielding us. I don't know what that Cat is doing but I'm sure glad that he's busy enough to not hurry over here." With that Naomi nodded to Vivi and the three of them set off through the back wall and into nick in the canyon wall that was actually a small passageway leading to an area where small transport jumpers were waiting to escort the Senator's daughter home.

* * *

Hungar's berserk mode faded after he sent the pathetic Alterian soaring across the room. He wouldn't need it to defeat that low life form anymore, not that he needed it in the first place. The red disappeared from his eyes and was replaced with the golden glow once again. Hungar licked the remaining blood from his gleaming claws, now stained, of course, and watched out of the corner of his eye the sheathes of that Alterian's blades disintegrate out of existence. The Cathigan commander narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Now that his mind was clearer, wasn't there more Alterians with that one? They disappeared before his fight began, so where did they go?

The Cathigan growled and strode towards where the metallic cloud hung, his right hand held out in front of him as an invisible force built up around his palm. As soon as he was near enough that power was released, acting as a form of repelling force field, blowing away the mist and clearing up his vision. It wasn't a supernatural power, or some sort of psychic ability, but Hungar wasn't going to let those stupid Alterians know. It was a device, connected to the palm and covered by padding, by a sort of glove. It was like a shield, taking in air from the surroundings and compressing it. You the amount of time it took compressing it and how much you compress will determine the size of the "shield" and force whatever was in front away from the user of the device. That was how he prevented most of the bullets from before ever making it to him.

Now that he was able to see the area, rage built up inside of Hungar. The Alterian, all of those irritating Alterians were gone, disappeared just like before. Three holes just as tall as the Cathigan commander were in three different places on three different sides. The Alterians must have done this to buy time, to confuse _him_, the powerful commander of this base. They escaped him, but that would only prolong their fate. He would track them down and kill them. He would send scouting patrols to search. Those feeble Alterians couldn't have gotten far with an injured one.

* * *

"Naomi, stop. You need to rest." Trinity whispered in her ear after travelling twenty minutes down a dark path. The young woman was already staggering a few steps and stumbled at least once since they left the throne room. Naomi paused for only a few seconds to catch her breath before replying.

"We can't, Trinity, and you know that. We have to get out of here as soon as we possibly can or its doomsday for all of us." Silently, Trinity agreed with her logic, but another even louder voice in his head told him she would be too exhausted to walk soon if something didn't change.

"Fine, we'll compromise. Set me down and I'll walk by myself." Naomi turned her head and in the light from the flashlight Vivi was holding he was a stubborn glint in the young woman's eyes.

"You are in no condition to do that." Trinity glared right back with an equally stubborn look.

"And I'm saying that I can do this for the remaining time. Put me down."

"I'm telling you no!"

"And I'm telling you," Trinity started, raising his voce a little, "That I'll force both of us to the ground, which would just make circumstances even harder than they already are if you don't!" Naomi started to reply, but paused for a few moments.

"You would, wouldn't you?" She asked suspiciously. Trinity's stare told her everything. Naomi sighed, defeated. Trinity could be just as stubborn as she could be sometimes. Secretly, she was relieved at the idea that she wouldn't have to carry Trinity's weight around anymore, but there was no way she would openly admit to it. "Fine." She stated, bending so that the other person could slid off and onto his feet. "But as soon as we see those jumpers, you aren't walking by yourself anymore." Trinity shrugged, breathing heavily and started walking forward. Vivi was on his right while Naomi was on his left, ready to support him in case he stumbled and fell.

It was about another ten minutes before they even saw light at the end of the tunnel, and in this case, walking towards that light was something everyone thought was the best thing to do. Naomi grabbed Trinity's left arm and laid it across her shoulders, supporting him while they increased their pace. Vivi turned off the flashlight just before they broke through the doorway, exiting darkness.

It was a welcome sight after all they had been through. They saw people of their own kind with relieved smiles on their faces. People rushed over from three different transport jumpers to examine their comrades, some fussing over Trinity's wounds and making more of a deal out of it than he would have liked, but that was medics for you. One scratch and you were bandaged up like a mummy. Vivi tugged on her hat and ran her fingers through her hair shyly, turning to look up at her two rescuers.

"Thank you Trinity, and you Naomi. Thank you so much for coming to my aid and getting me out of that horrible place." The two of them smiled at her, probably just as relieved as she was about escaping from the dangers they were through.

"Your very much welcome, but the person you should really than…" Trinity paused to cough a bit, causing the medics fuss even more and forcing him to sit while they got a stretcher. "You should really thank Chris." Vivi tilted her head, puzzled.

"Chris? Who is that?"

"He was one of your escorts." This time it was Naomi who answered. "From before the Cats kidnapped you, remember? Christophe O'Brien of Grey Zero, along with three others who accompanied you." Vivi bit her lip, embarrassed about not remembering the name and straying back to the memory of the exploding transport, killing her escorts inside. Then realization struck.

"Wait, one of them survived?! Is he still alive?! Really?" Naomi nodded, but a hand on her shoulder made her pause. A women around her early twenties dressed in the white uniform medics wore shook her head.

"We received a message not too long ago. Christophe died about an hour ago." Naomi closed her eyes as her head sunk to her chest, and Trinity rubbed a grey stripe down the sleeve of his right arm. Vivi gazed at it and was once again struck with realization.

"My escorts…were they from your group? Grey Zero?" Trinity glanced at her with sad eyes.

"Yeah," he stated simply, allowing the two novice medics to lift him on a stretcher they had just brought. "That's why…why Grey Zero was responsible for getting you back. It was our job to…keep you safe to…begin with." Trinity took a deep breath and smiled shakily before closing his eyes. The woman medic that bore the sad news before checked his pulse and breathing.

"He's unconscious_ and_ heavily injured. Always so troublesome, Grey Zero is. We need to get him back to HQ immediately." While they carried his body the woman shouted to the others that they needed to prepare to leave and then depart in the next five minutes. Vivi gazed at Naomi despairingly and guiltily.

"I am sorry, Naomi. It is because of me your friends died." Naomi laughed softly and laid a hand on the younger girl's shoulder.

"Death is to be expected in war. None of us can hang over every single one or we might not be able to move on. Right now, all of us need to concentrate on the present." Vivi looked down, still feeling guilty. Naomi patted the girl's cheek and lifted her head. "Look up and don't kill yourself over this. Grey Zero will survive. We'll all move on if we want to end this war and making these sacrifices." Vivi nodded slowly, showing that she understood. "Good." Naomi smiled a little wider. "Now Vivi, how about we concentrate on returning you to home?"

Vivi smiled back at her. Home sounded sweet and warm, like a glass of warm milk that soothed your heart. She was suddenly filled with desperation and impatience to see the place she called her home.

* * *

Lord Hungar slammed a fist angrily against the wall in his den. Those pathetic, weak, feeble, low-life Alterians escaped his grasp. Everywhere they searched, all throughout the area surrounding this base and there wasn't a trace. Filled with rage he overturned the table and broke the chair, creating chaos in the room. The only thing that was running through his head was the thought that if he ever saw that one Alterian's face, that one, puny, troublesome, green-eyed Alterian ever again, he would make sure that he _would_ disappear…permanently, and with him, the great commander, there to witness it.


	5. Chapter 5

**This…I was somehow possessed to continue with my story, and so I shall, since a ton of my actions seem to be based off my whims. Anyway, this chapter is shorter than the other ones, but probably is still readable. Read and hopefully enjoy.**

The military headquarters in the capital city, Core, was not as seemingly advanced as the Cathigan outpost that Vivi had previously been held captive in only a few weeks before. For one thing, it was made from a type of stone similar to something called "limestone" on the home planet, Earth. The tall white building stood 9 stories high and took up more space than any other building. Two miles of land was reserved for the building and the training area around it. The base housed 8 divisions of the Human Army, with each containing 100-200 members; a wide range and few numbers, but with the human population around 20,000 on Dextrius, they were silently given some elbow room.

The eight divisions were classified as colors, and called "Zero Divisions" (no one knows whose brilliant idea that was). Some like to think it's because those divisions were the last standing defense against the Cathigans reducing the population to zero. The eight divisions on this planet were "Gold Zero", "Red Zero", "Blue Zero", "Grey Zero", "Violet Zero", "Yellow Zero", "Black Zero", and "Bronze Zero." Each division had its own floor as their dormitory they stayed in when they weren't on missions or on leave. Naturally, to prevent unwanted circumstances, the women's section were separated from the men's by a steel door, locked with a code only known to the women, changed every month. The very bottom floor of HQ was the briefing room, the kitchen, hospital, and so on so forth. _That_ was what Vivi was taught in her many courses and tours throughout HQ. With her already laid out future of a translator and possible diplomat, it was important to know at least the basics of the people she would most likely be working with in the future. At least that was what she was told. It helped that Vivi often came to HQ when her father and/or her uncle had a meeting with the superiors there.

Vivi's hand was clutched tightly in her uncle's large one as they both followed her father, a tall, lean man to the briefing room to discuss things she wasn't allowed to know. Once again, like every other time, her father and uncle would enter the room, leaving her outside to stare as the doors shut. Once again, she would wait for someone to come and pick her up to do "activities" while she waited for them to finish. With nothing else to do, Vivi stood against the wall across from where a soldier stood guard outside the doors, looking down at her purple shoes, smoothing her violet dress and tugging down her equally colored, grandma knitted hat. Every time someone walked by, she would look up for her "companion" to smile and take her away. Despite her hopeful gaze, no one paid any heed to her, and she never saw anyone she recognized.

Vivi waited, and continued to wait, to the point where her legs were getting tired of just standing there. Disappointed by every person who came by her, she eventually just gazed at every person who past by until she saw a familiar figure. Excitement welled up inside, and as that person walked by, Vivi pushed herself from the wall and raced after her as a name escaped her lips. "Naomi!" Startled, she turned around.

"Vi…Miss Vivi! What are you doing here?" Vivi looked towards the double doors and the guard standing nearby.

"Papa has a meeting. Naomi, is Trinity okay? Is he dead? He's dead isn't he?" Naomi's stared, and then she started to laugh.

"Why don't you see for yourself? I'm going to see him right now." Vivi's face brightened, her eyes noticing flower in Naomi's right hand, the petals a wonderful bold, dark blue, and the middle, a bright yellow. Naomi glanced down at them and smiled softly. "These are Lullaby Flowers, Trinity's favorite. Did you know these are the only flowers that whistle? Whenever the wind blows over them, the middle part has these little holes that it passes through and whistles softly. Trinity's mother said he'd always fall asleep listening to them." Vivi's eyes grew wider as she heard the flower's story. They walked in silence before Vivi asked the question that is expected to be asked.

"How do you know Trinity's favorite flower?" Naomi waved in the air, as if shooing the question aside.

"I've known him since we were children, so I know little things like this." Naomi pulled out her ID card and slid it through the slot, opening the infirmary doors. As they entered, Vivi realized that she had never been inside this wing before; she only was allowed to look inside briefly. The beds were neatly lined up against the walls facing the middle, leaving a clear aisle in the center of the room. To the left of each bed was a small wooden cupboard for visitors to place their gifts or to hold the doctor's medicine for the patient. On the far left from the entrance was the operating room, guarded by two tall, white doors. Male and female nurses circled around the patients to care for those who needed their attention. Naomi grabbed Vivi's hand and led her to a bed next to the operation room entrance. Trinity grinned as they approached.

"Hey! You brought someone else along, huh, Naomi?" Trinity looked towards Vivi, eyes sparkling. "And it's Miss Vivi, too. You two have been doing well, then?" Naomi threw out the dead flowers in the white vase and replaced them with the Lullabies.

"Ask yourself that question. Still in bandages, I see." Trinity placed a hand on his chest where white bandages covered it and his midriff.

"The doctors are just over-reacting. These are only scratches." Naomi rolled her eyes.

"How embarrassing. If word got out that you fainted from a few scratches, you'd be the laughing stock of the year…again." Trinity chuckled in reply as Vivi watched the scene before her, repeating what Naomi said in her mind. Slowly, tears swelled in her eyes as a pang of guilt came over her. Both Trinity and Naomi stared, bewildered.

"I'm sorry…I…Everything that happened is my fault. I was taken away so you had to come rescue me and…you're here because…and your friends…I…" Vivi looked at her shoes as she started to cry a little. Naomi and Trinity glanced at each other expectantly, silently willing the other to say something. Naomi rustled her own hair a bit before desperately gathering words to say.

"It isn't your fault, Miss Vivi. Things happen like that in war…it's expected." Naomi looked at the young girl and saw that her words had wretchedly little affect. "Please, Miss Vivi, don't blame yourself. It's not healthy for someone as young as you."

"You two are not much older than she is. Take care of yourselves more." The lady doctor from the rescue mission stood behind Vivi and glared at Trinity through her glasses.

"That is not true," Naomi protested. We are a good twelve years older than she is! Isn't that right, Miss Vivi." Vivi wiped her eyes and shrugged slightly.

"I'm ten years old…in Earth time." Naomi nodded slightly.

"We are eight years older than she is." The doctor shook her head a bit and tapped her clipboard, looking down at Vivi.

"Miss Vivi, just what do you think you are doing here? Your guide for the day must be frantic." Naomi winked at Vivi and saluted the doctor mockingly.

"I take full responsibility for the frightened heart of her guide person, Section M. Chief, ma'am." The doctor looked hard at her.

"Stop saluting me. Now take her back and leave us in peace, meddler." Naomi smiled and held out her hand for Vivi to take. As they walked away, they heard the doctor and Trinity trading a few last words.

"Hey, Chief, when can leave the infirmary, or more preferably, the bed?"

"You will stay there in that bed until I say otherwise. I'm keeping you still as long as I can...that way you can't accidently kill yourself." Startled, Vivi looked up at Naomi with wide eyes. Naomi simply shrugged, still smiling.

"He's accident prone."

* * *

Apparently, when Vivi's guide didn't find her in front of the conference room doors, she went into a state of panic and interrupted the meeting Vivi's father and uncle were attending. So when Vivi and Naomi were visiting Trinity, many people were on a frantic search for the missing girl, and no one thought to look in the infirmary. Things were still in disarray when they returned. The poor guide was leaning against the wall, breathing from her inhaler. Apparently she had asthma, and it got worse when she panicked. The Captain Commander started to scold Naomi for "kidnapping" the Senator's daughter while Vivi's uncle was explaining ways to alert someone of their location. Some of them Naomi overheard, and the ones she did she was certain could not be applied inside an occupied building. When things finally started to settle down, Senator Kelchane, who was simply standing back and watching the events that amused him greatly, announced he was heading home, since they were done discussing logical topics and merely rambling on about useless subjects. Vivi's hand was engulfed by her uncle's huge one, and as they followed her father out the door, Vivi looked back once and saw Naomi saluting the Captain Commander and walking away. Vivi turned back, feeling slightly disappointed that she couldn't stay here longer with Trinity and Naomi.

"Uncle?" Her uncle didn't look down at her as he replied.

"Hm?"

"Why do people have to call me 'Miss Vivi' all the time?" She wasn't completely ignorant. Vivi did notice that both Naomi and Trinity had referred to her as "miss".

"Why, because you're important! You are the daughter of a man from the Ten Seats, and everyone must treat you with the utmost respect. It was upsetting that some lowly soldier had led you down a path of foolishness, taking you away from your guide. Promise me you will not be so irresponsible again. You are going to be an imperative key to our survival in the future, so you must not concern yourself with low ranked soldiers." Vivi looked down at the floor and didn't reply. She remembered learning about the Ten Seats, and of their importance, but she still didn't understand why that importance is passed down to her. Still, if Uncle said it, could it have been true?

The Ten Seats of Government were literally ten people, titled as Senators, who are in charge of monitoring a certain section of the branches of government, including the military, making sure that things were kept under control. They basically run the system and are the backbone of the current society. They are changed every so often, but every person there has an experienced mind. Her father was one of those in charge of the military section. He reports on military progress to the Ten Seats, brings certain matters to the attention of the military commanders, and discusses strategies of the war effort. That's only a vague description of what he does. At least, that is what Vivi's tutor told her. When she was older, she would know more. Her future life depended on it. Vivi was sure her tutor, and adults in general for that matter could see the future, what with all the things they told her about her own.


End file.
